Sydalicious started smoking cannabis when she was in her late teens and has smoked it intermittently since then. She finds it helps her manage pain associated with injuries she sustained in a motorcycle accident.

Barry started drinking regularly and smoking cannabis in his early teens after a close family member died. In his early twenties, he began taking heroin and has continued to take it on and off since then, which he now describes as ‘an addiction’.

Throughout much of his thirties, Sean took heroin, ice and cocaine, typically with friends, sometimes in relationships, and also alone. His drug consumption changed when he began a new relationship in his late thirties.